This invention relates to animation of a mesh, for instance, according to image tracking
Modern three-dimensional (3-D ) computer animation systems typically use simplified representations of the anatomy of animated characters. For example, a mesh of points may be used to represent the topography of a character's face. To facilitate the animation process, a “rig” is often created by defining a number of animation variables that control the location of one or more of the points on the mesh. To animate the character, the animation variables are adjusted over time.
For example, to animate a scene of a character speaking, an animator may adjust one or more animation variables to impart motion to, for example, the character's lips. In some examples, the animator needs to adjust the animation variables for each frame of a scene. With typical frame rates ranging from 24 to 30 frames per second, creating a scene that lasts just a few seconds can be a time consuming and arduous task.
In some other examples, the amount of animation effort can be reduced by software that allows animators to specify a desired destination animation variable value and then interpolating the animation variable values for a number of frames until the desired destination variable value is met.
In addition to the amount of time necessary to animate a scene, animators face the challenge of animating humans in a photorealistic manner. Up to this point, the complexity of human biomechanics has made photorealistic animation of humans an almost intractable challenge.
There is a need for a system that can accurately and quickly create animations of human movements.